During 2013–2014, renowned conductor Osmo Vänskä celebrates his Finnish compatriot Jean Sibelius by bringing his long-awaited Sibelius symphony cycle to Carnegie Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra. Regarded as some of the greatest works of the 20th century, each of the composer's seven symphonies has captivated audiences, from ominous brooding and bleak desolation to triumphant heroism. These masterpieces are performed alongside some of Sibelius's other symphonic gems and celebrated masterworks with distinguished soloists Hilary Hahn and Anne Sofie von Otter.

Here, in a video created as part of our A Golden Age of Music series, Carnegie Hall's Director of Artistic Planning Jeremy Geffen explains the political and musical background to Sibelius's First Symphony: Finnish nationalism and Tchaikovsky. He also discusses how Tchaikovsky's groundbreaking use of silence in his music influenced Sibelius throughout his career.